Václav Kropáček

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Václav Kropáček (1916)

Václav Kropáček (born June 22, 1898 in Soběkury , † December 13, 1943 in Dresden ) was a Czechoslovak soldier, legionnaire , colonel of the general staff in the Czechoslovak army and as a leading member of the resistance group Obrana národa a personality of the Czechoslovak resistance 1939-1945 against the National socialism .

Life

After attending the high school in Pilsen, Kropáček volunteered on the Eastern Front (first on the Russian and then on the Italian front) in May 1916 , where he was taken prisoner on August 20, 1917. He enlisted in the Czechoslovak legions , where he was successfully used as a scout against the Austrian army. In mid-December 1918 he returned to Czechoslovakia as a first lieutenant, where he served in particular in Slovakia, especially from 1920 to 1927 in Košice . 1927–1930 he studied at the Vysoká škola válečná (War College) in Prague and worked at the Ministry of Defense, in 1936 he passed the examination for lieutenant colonel (Podplukovník) of the general staff.

After the occupation of the country by the Wehrmacht in 1939, Kropáček joined the resistance organization Obrana národa and took part in the central leadership of the group. He organized the emigration of endangered soldiers abroad and was one of the close collaborators of Generals Sergěj Ingr , Josefa Bílý and Alois Eliáš as well as Colonel Čeněk Kudláček . In addition to chairing the political department of Obrana národa and responsible for political and press affairs, Kropáček was the organization's deputy chief of staff.

Kropáček was arrested by the Gestapo on December 14, 1939 and, after tough interrogation, was imprisoned for two years in the Pankrác prison; on August 1, 1943 he was transferred to the Bautzen prison and then to Dresden , where he was sentenced to death by the People's Court on October 27, 1943 for high treason and treason. His defense lawyer Egon Kubuschok was expelled from the National Socialist Lawyers' Association (the German Bar Association during the Nazi era) after Kropáček's defense . The execution took place on December 13, 1943.

Václav Kropáček was promoted in memoriam to the rank of Colonel of the General Staff in 1947 .

family

During his service in Košice he met his wife Božena (maiden name Opělová, after the second marriage of her mother then Pavlisková), whom he married in January 1924 and had three children with her.

Although her husband, Václav Kropáček, was arrested by the Gestapo and was imprisoned with children to look after, Božena Kropáčková cooperated with the resistance at some risk. An acquaintance of hers, who was already hiding two wanted parachutists from Operation Anthropoid in her apartment, spoke to her and asked if she could accommodate another parachutist. Božena Kropáčková, who was already getting clothes and food for the two agents, immediately agreed and hid the leader of Operation Out Distance , Lieutenant Adolf Opálka, in her apartment from May 5, 1942 to June 5, 1942 .

For this activity Kropáčková received the Czechoslovak Medal of Valor on November 5, 1945. After the Communist seizure of power in 1948, however, she was imprisoned, interrogated and charged with illegal anti-state activities from September 1948 to February 1949, including an alleged attempt to kidnap the imprisoned former minister Prokop Drtina . In the trial against an alleged group with a total of 24 members, in which a death sentence was pronounced, she was acquitted on February 12, 1949.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d ES: KROPÁČEK Václav . Biography in: Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945 , publication of the Military Historical Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, AVIS, Prague 2005, p. 153, online (archived) at: vojenskaakademiehranice.ic.cz / ...
  2. ↑ a b Michal Burian: Významný přírůstek: pozůstalost po pplk.gšt. V. Kropáčkovi a B. Kropáčkové . Publication of the Military Historical Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, online at: vhu.cz / ...
  3. ↑ a b c d e Lukáš Kopecký: Božena Kropáčková - neobyčejný osud obyčejné ženy . Publication of the Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů ÚSTR (Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, a state institute of the Czech Republic), online at: ustrcr.cz/
personal data
SURNAME Kropáček, Václav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak colonel and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Soběkury
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1943
Place of death Dresden